Hello Survivors,
We’re a good chunk of the way into the new year and already things feel much more promising than the last. 2020 was a difficult year for many and we, like other developers around the world, found ourselves scrambling to adjust to a whole new way to work and create. Through the challenges, we’re proud that we were able to debut 3 new Battlegrounds; Karakin, Paramo, and Haven, while also shipping reworks of Vikendi and Sanhok. 2020 also saw the release of Team Deathmatch and Ranked Mode, along with a number of new weapons, tools, features, and vehicles. The world as a whole may not have had a great year, but we personally have much to be thankful for- especially you, our fans sticking with us through a complicated year of experimentation.
Your continued support and feedback give us tangible goals to work towards but funneling the feedback of a global audience into one update that satisfies everyone is never an easy task. One ongoing piece of feedback we’ve heard pretty universally though is the desire for us to give more focus to larger maps, especially after a year that focused largely on smaller ones. Here, in the first part of our 2021 Dev Plan, we’re going to reveal how we’re doing just that.
As we just mentioned, after experimenting and learning with smaller maps and their unique features during 2020, we’ve taken the time to refocus on what we know many of our core audience values the most. 2021 is the year of the large map and will be in more ways than one. Let’s start with some easy wins before we talk about our plans for new and shiny.
Miramar
Miramar has been a map that’s needed love for a while now. Our last revamp went a long way to help the map out, bringing it into the PUBG universe with new aesthetics and matching lore elements, while fixing a few of the pain points that existed since its launch.
With Update 12.1, we'll be introducing a much larger remastering of Mirarmar, taking into account many of the new technologies we’ve employed in our newer maps, including lighting, performance, graphical fidelity, topography, and of course special features.
Expect to see big overhauls to terrain and building textures and layouts, easier traversal with the removal of unnecessary obstacles, and even updated cliffs to better fit in the more vertical experience the game has become.
Miramar's remaster will make it's way into the live server soon, so keep an eye out for more information.
Codename: Tiger
Following the remastering of Miramar, comes the first new 8x8 Battleground in 3 years. Tiger will utilize all the aspects of the Battlegrounds that you’ve known over the years but with one key change; the ability to return to the battle after an initial defeat. This is a feature we’ve seen become fairly common in the Battle Royale genre and is something we’ve been asked about quite a bit, especially when it comes to duos and squads. If you’ve been paying attention, you’ll see we’ve experimented a bit recently with what respawning on a Battleground looks like and Tiger is a big reason why.
Besides respawns, new features never seen before in PUBG will continually be added to Tiger, so stay tuned!
Codename: Kiki
The 8x8 goodness doesn’t end with Tiger. In late 2021/early 2022, our 4th 8x8 map will launch. Kiki will boast a diverse set of locations, from mysterious underground labs to massive skyscrapers to swampland to subways to underwater buildings - we’re looking at many different locations to thrill and challenge survivors in our most diverse and exploration focused Battleground yet. Planning for Kiki is still pretty early, but we’ll be back with more information later in the year.
We’re beyond excited to be getting back to business as usual in 2021. Not only as a global society, but as developers doing what we do best- huge 8x8 survival experiences to test even the most battle-hardened Survivors out there. Between Miramar, Tiger, and Kiki, you can look forward to a whole year worth of new and improved 8x8 content, always chock full of new weapons, vehicles, items, and plenty of PUBG’s signature style.
On behalf of everyone here, we’d like to thank you for your continued support and feedback. We’ll be back soon with part 2 of our 2021 Dev Plan, which will go over core gameplay and service. Thanks once again and we’ll see you on the Battlegrounds!